


Talk to Me

by zebraljb



Series: Cheesevember 2018 [19]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Trapped In Elevator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-25 18:56:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16666372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zebraljb/pseuds/zebraljb
Summary: PROMPT - Elevator meetingEggsy is a shy young man rendered almost speechless by years of abuse by his ex-stepfather. He starts his first day at Merlin Software by getting stuck in an elevator with a handsome Scottish man.





	Talk to Me

**Author's Note:**

> This eventually spawned a full fic, which can be found here:
> 
> [Talk to me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16716233/chapters/39205757)

TALK TO ME

“Oi, babe, ya look amazing.” Michelle smiles as she smooths Eggsy’s suit jacket and straightens his tie. “My boy, goin’ ta work in an office! All respectable like.”

“Mum.” Eggsy smiles bashfully. “Ain’t doin’ nothin’ special except runnin’ errands an’ stuff. Just an assistant.”

“Ya need a tie ta go ta work, Eggsy. Pretty special around these parts.” She kisses his cheek. “Now, what did I tell ya?”

“I gotta say hello ta three new people. They’re all new so that will be easy.”

“And?”

“And if there’s nowhere ta sit fer lunch, I’m ta ask someone if I can sit with them.” Eggsy swallows hard, panic starting to rise in his throat.

“Okay.”

“An’…an’ I’m supposed ta make eye contact with people when they speak ta me, even…even authority figures.”

“That’s my brave lad.” Michelle hugs him tight. “I’m proud of ya, Eggsy.” She pulls back and frowns. “I’m so sorry that…”

“Mum. Ain’t all yer fault that I’m such a loser. You marryin’ Dean didn’t make me shy.”

“No, but it made you afraid ta raise yer voice when it needs raisin’.” His mother draws a shuddering breath. “Go on now. Have a great day. We’ll go out for dinner ta celebrate.”

“That sounds nice.” He stops at the kitchen table and kisses his sister’s head. “Bye, Daisy. Be good fer Mum.”

“I will, Eggsy.” She turns up her face and he kisses her nose.

 

“Tell me you’re joking, Harry.”

“I’m not joking, Ian. A week in Paris, three days in Cardiff, four in Edinburgh.”

“Harry, I own this company. Isn’t it someone else’s job to go to these stupid conferences? You’re my vice-president…go be my vice-president all over Europe.” Merlin angrily stirs his tea. “And don’t call me Ian.”

“You’re the face of Merlin Software. You need to be there. We’ve just pushed those three new games as well as the photo editing software and the operating…”

“I know what we’ve done, Harry. I own the company,” Ian repeats. “I just…God. I hate doing those things. I feel like an idiot, and I never know what I’m supposed to say.”

“That’s why I thought you could take an assistant along!” Harry says enthusiastically. Merlin stares at him. “We’ve just hired three new people. Granted the one is just a glorified mail boy, but he was polite and seemed like a hard worker.” Harry smiles slyly. “Not hard on the eyes, either.”

“The last pretty boy you hired for me ran off with the head of marketing. I’m not looking for pretty. I’m not looking for anything,” Merlin grumbles. He pats at his pockets and frowns. “Well, that’s a lie. I’m looking for my phone, which is in the car. Fuck.” He stands up. “I’ll be back. And when I return, we’re going to talk about why I’m going to three cities in a fortnight.” He storms out of the office and heads for the lifts.

 

Eggsy clutches his messenger bag and stares at the floor of the tube, repeating his mother’s mantra in his mind. “You’re a smart person. You’re kind and you’re brave. You can talk to anyone. And if they don’t like what you say, you’ll never see them again.”

He swallows hard and looks at the ceiling, trying to calm his nerves. As a child he’d chattered like a magpie, especially around close friends and family. Now, however, those are the only people he’ll talk to of his own volition. Years of physical and mental abuse at the hand of his mother’s ex-husband had seen to that. He’d learned rather quickly that his sharp tongue earned him nothing but a slap, and if what he said was bad enough, it earned his mother a slap as well. When Dean started looking to take it out on Daisy, his own daughter, Eggsy virtually cut out his own tongue.

And now he suffers for it. He became so shy, so wary of negative attention, that he barely speaks. He was shocked he was able to talk enough to get the job, but the Human Resources person, a nice girl his own age named Roxy, was friendly and patient and apparently saw something in him.

He gets off at the correct stop and takes his time walking to the office building. No need to appear flushed and out of breath on his first day. He still couldn’t believe he was working at a place like Merlin Software. He’d used their products for years, and was really impressed with the way the company had branched out. He hopes that maybe one day he’d even meet Merlin himself, but he was sure the man was busy and didn’t have time for lowly assistants.

He takes a few deep breaths before entering the building, stopping at the security desk by the front door. “I’m supposed ta ask fer Roxy Morton?” He whispers.

“Speak up, lad, lotsa noise around here,” the guard barks.

Eggsy jumps. “I…Roxy Morton?” He manages.

“All right.” The guard picks up the phone. “Miss Morton, young bloke down here asking for you. Very well.” He hangs up. “Wait here, she’ll be right down.”

Eggsy clutches his bag and waits against the front wall until he sees the familiar face. “Eggsy! So good to see you again.” She holds out her hand and she shakes it.

“Good morning,” he says, focusing on making eye contact. “Nice to see you, too.”

“Unfortunately this will be our only time together…I have a meeting in twenty and I’m already behind. But I’ll lead you around the corner here to HR, and they can get your ID ready. Then you simply need to take the elevator to the top floor to meet with Mr. Hart.”

“Mr. Hart?”

“Vice-President.” Roxy leads him down a hall and around a corner.

“I’m ta meet tha Vice-President on my first day?” Eggsy gasps.

“You won’t just be meeting him, Eggsy.” Roxy stops walking. “Didn’t I tell you? The job is assistant to Mr. Hart and Mr. McNair.”

Eggsy feels faint. “Assistant to…but I ain’t got no experience. Barely finished school. I can’t…”

“Can you read and write and type and make tea?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“You’re quite qualified. Come along, then. Let’s get that pretty face of yours on an ID badge.”

She leaves him in HR and he swallows hard. “Come along, my friend,” the middle-aged woman behind the first desk says. “Let’s take your picture, shall we? I’m Doris.”

“Eggsy,” he say, forcing himself to smile and shake her hand. “Pleasure.”

“When I started here, the new employees sure didn’t look like you,” she tells him. He looks down at his cheap suit in dismay. “Oh, my dear, I wasn’t talking about that. You’re just quite handsome, that’s all. They only hired young women and old men back then.”

“Thank you,” he says, blushing furiously.

“Aren’t you adorable,” she coos. “Now sit down here and we’ll give you a minute to get that blush off your face.”

He manages to calm down enough to have his picture taken, and he tries to make small talk with Doris as she makes his badge. “Thank you, ma’am,” he says politely.

“You come back and visit any time,” she says. He nods and practically runs from the room.

He finds the bay of lifts and finds one that’s empty. The door is just about to close when someone yells, “Wait!” He immediately reaches out and puts a hand on the door. “Thanks,” the man says as he breezes into the lift and skids to a stop. He sees that Eggsy has the top floor pushed and nods.

Eggsy slides back into a corner of the lift and stares. The man’s a bit taller than he, in his fifties, with a chiseled handsome profile and a sharp nose. He’s slender but not weak-looking, and his jumper stretches just right over his back. Eggsy blushes, looking down. The man is right fit, if he’s being honest with himself. But he learned early on that you don’t get caught looking that way at strange men. They don’t like it. Dean taught him that.

They both silently watch the number above the door. 6…12…15. At floor 16, the lift suddenly shudders and comes to a stop. “Bloody hell,” the man curses, voice thick with a Scottish accent. He slaps the door. “Fucking piece of…I thought they fixed these.” He slaps the door a few more times and curses some more. Eggsy whimpers quietly and presses back even further. The man looks over his shoulder at him and frowns before picking up the emergency phone. “Yes…we’re stuck in elevator…three.” He pauses. “What do you MEAN you know and you’re working on it? We have lives to live, jobs to do. Get the lift company on the line and GET US OUT OF HERE!” The man roars before hanging up the phone.

Eggsy slides down to the floor, hands over his ears. He knows it’s not what he should do, that he should stand up and be a man, but he can’t. He can’t handle the yelling, the smacking of the door. A hand touches his shoulder and he shoves it away. “Don’t touch me,” he hisses.

“All right. All right, lad.” The voice is soothing, tender. He slowly looks up from his knees and sees the man crouching next to him. “I’m sorry. I won’t touch you again. Are you…are you claustrophobic?”

“What? No,” Eggsy says truthfully. “I just…please don’t yell like that.”

“Like what?”

“On tha phone,” Eggsy whispers pitifully.

“On the…oh. I’m sorry. I guess I was angry.” The man smiles a bit. “I get angry a lot, but I promise I am most certainly all bark and no bite.” He holds out his hand. “I’m Ian.”

Eggsy slowly shakes his hand. “Eggsy.”

The man raises his eyebrows as he looks at Eggsy’s ID. “That says Gary.”

“Well, yeah.” Eggsy turns red. “My…my real name is Gary but my nickname is Eggsy.”

“Well, I most certainly understand the use of a nickname. I hate my given name.” Ian sits back against the wall as well. “Are you new?”

“Y-yes. First day.”

“First day. How exciting. Let me guess…” The man looks at him and he blushes again. “Marketing.” Eggsy shakes his head. “PR?” He shakes it again. “You’re the new cook in the cafeteria.”

Eggsy has to giggle at that, shyly looking up from under his bangs. “I’m just an assistant.”

“Just an assistant. I doubt that. Who will you be assisting?”

“Mr. Hart an’ Mr. McNair.”

The man blinks at him. “Really?”

“Yeah, I was as shocked as you, lemme tell ya. Ad just said assistant, an’ I met with Miss Morton an’ she were real nice. But they never told me I’d be workin’ fer tha owner an’ all. Fuckin’ terrified, swear down. An’ now I’m late on my first day, an’ they’ll probably fire me,” Eggsy says miserably. He realizes that’s most he’s said to anyone other than his Mum in weeks. There’s something kind in the man’s eyes that makes him actually feel relaxed.

“Oh, I doubt they’ll do that. I’ll vouch for the lift problem. I’ve heard Mr. Hart is very nice, although McNair can be a bit of a prick.”

“Great,” Eggsy says glumly. “Man’s a fuckin’ genius with computers, an’ they put me with him. He’s gonna have me out on my arse before I know what’s hit me. Only thing I’m used ta managin’ is the budget at home an’ my sister’s nap schedule.”

“Do you know anything about computers?”

“I can type an’ all, play games. My little sister, she’s four, an’ I play with her a lot. Help her learn her ABCs an’ all that.”

“I see. So have you used any of our software?”

“Yeah, some. I mean, it’s cheaper than most of tha other stuff, but it’s still a bit of a stretch fer us.”

“Us?”

“My mum. Just her an’ me now.” 

“Oh, I thought perhaps you were married,” Ian says, his beautiful hazel eyes looking Eggsy over.

“Me?” Eggsy turns red again. “Uh, no. I…I don’t…I ain’t lookin’…” He looks down, all bravado forgotten.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that Merlin Software offers an employee discount on all their products. So you can get whatever you like.”

“That’s aces,” Eggsy says with a grin. The man keep staring at him and he blushes again, looking down at his bag.

“I’m sorry,” the man says suddenly. “For yelling earlier.”

“It’s all right. Most grown men aren’t idiots who cry like a little baby at some noise,” Eggsy mumbles.

“I did my time in the military, lad. I know what PTSD looks like.”

“Yeah, well, this weren’t no military. It was…domestic,” Eggsy whispers.

Ian slowly puts his hand on Eggsy’s leg, safely on the knee where it wouldn’t seem like anything other than a friendly gesture. “I’m sorry.”

Eggsy nods and Ian removes his hand. He remembers his mum’s rule and looks Ian in the eye when he asks, “Where do you work?”

“Here and there. Mostly Development. I have to go away on a trip soon…bloody hate that.”

“Ya get ta travel? That’s nice. I…I ain’t been any further than Brighton, m’self.”

“Well, perhaps that will change for you soon,” Ian says with a smile. 

They both jump as the lift whines into motion. Ian stands and holds a hand out to Eggsy. “Let me help you.” He gently tugs him to his feet but doesn’t release his hand. “I’m glad I was stuck here with you, Eggsy.”

Eggsy blushes but is able to smile and say, “Me too. Weren’t so bad.”

The lift reaches the top floor and the doors open. “Oh, Mr. McNair, I’m so sorry!” The head of maintenance gushes. “I thought we had this problem fixed days ago.”

“So did I,” Ian says. Eggsy stares at him. Mr. McNair? 

“If you wanted to get out of our discussion, Merlin, all you had to do was tell me,” a tall man with dark hair snaps at him.

“Oh, do shut up, Harry.” Ian winks at Eggsy.

“Yer Merlin? Yer Mr. McNair?” Eggsy whispers, horrified.

“Yes. I’m sorry I wasn’t completely honest with you, lad, but it’s so rare I get to just be myself around here.” He places a hand on the small of Eggsy’s back and to Eggsy’s surprise he doesn’t feel like flinching away. “Harry, this is our new assistant, Mr. Unwin. I’ve had the pleasure of making his acquaintance while we were stuck on the lift.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Unwin.” Mr. Hart holds out his hand and Eggsy shakes it, absolutely terrified.

“Everyone can calm down and go away now, I’m fine,” Ian…no…Merlin barks. The crowd disperses. “Eggsy, if you could follow me?”

“Eggsy?” Harry asks.

“Like you really have room to say anything about a preferred nickname, HARRISON,” Merlin says.

“I’ll be in my office, Merlin,” Harry sighs.

Eggsy follows Merlin into his giant office. “Again, I’m sorry I wasn’t exactly honest with you, Eggsy. I promise it isn’t something I do often, lying to my staff.”

“Okay,” Eggsy says warily. “But ya called yerself a prick.”

“Oh, I can be. I have very little patience for stupidity.” Merlin starts to make tea. “But you don’t seem stupid to me.”

“I…I don’t have no university or nothin’. An’ I don’t talk right. I ain’t sure what Miss Morton was thinkin’.”

“She was thinking that I wanted something new and refreshing up here. I’m tired of someone kissing my arse every time I get up off my chair. And listen to me, lad, do I really talk like some posh entitled idiot? I leave that to Harry.” Eggsy starts to relax, just a little. There’s something about this man that makes him feel…normal. “I need someone who’s willing to work hard, and who’s willing to put up with me when I’m in a strop.” Merlin smiles. “If you have a four-year-old sister, you’re used to tantrums.”

“That’s the truth,” Eggsy agrees.

“So, even though I lied to you…well…wasn’t completely honest with you…on our first meeting, are you willing to give me a try?”

“Yeah,” Eggsy says, nodding slowly. “I think I will.”

“Good. Now run along down the hall to Harry’s office. Tell him I lied to you and scared you with my yelling. He does love to see me taken down a peg or two.”

“I don’t think I’ll do that, sir,” Eggsy says bashfully. “Don’t think you deserve all that.”

“You’ll think differently soon enough.” Merlin sits down behind his desk. 

Eggsy starts for the door and something dawns on him. “I…I’m not goin’ on that trip with ya, am I?” He tries not to sound too hopeful.

“Would you like to go?”

“Well, yes…I mean, only if the job requires it.”

“I’ll make sure it does.” Merlin gives him a smile and Eggsy can’t help but smile back. “Off you go, then.”

“Yes, sir.” Eggsy leaves the office and heads down the hall, thinking of all the things he’ll have to tell his mum over dinner that night.


End file.
